TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

At least 24 early-stage Minnesota tech companies raised a cumulative $58.6m in financing according to information collected and analyzed for the first quarter 2012 Capital Review.

Excluding Code 42 Software’s behemoth $52.5m first round, 23 companies raised $6.1 million, a more balanced picture of Minnesota’s tech investment climate on record for the start of this year.

21 of those 23 raised $3.9m in capital under the Minnesota Angel Investor Tax Credit within the first 90 days of the year, so says DEED’s data. Approximately 33 cents of each dollar invested through the program went into IT, Software, web, mobile, hardware, and telecom areas.

This data set does not include off-the-record and otherwise publicly undisclosed transactions; for a comprehensive historical review of Minnesota tech fundraising over the past few years, see: 2010; Q1 2011; Q2 2011; Q3 2011; Q4 2011. If anything was missed, please leave a note in the comments section and we’ll update.

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Chanhassen’s Indigo Identityware is raising more cash money, according to a SEC disclosure that indicates $200k of a $750k target round has been banked.

The company creates a variety of security software from biometric fingerprint recognition to mobile SSO and RFID for hospitals, banks, police stations, homes and other enterprise environments.  It is estimated to be capitalized between $3m – $5m.

Despite a year’s worth of articles bemoaning the condition of U.S. venture capital investing (see here and here and here), venture capital firms invested $21.8 billion nationally in 2010 (3,277 total investments), according to the National Venture Capital Association & PwC’s annual MoneyTree report.

This represents a 19% increase in dollars invested over 2009.

Minnesota’s 2010 story ends quite differently. Cross-sector startups raised a collective $140 million, marking a 48% drop from 2009, and the lowest Minnesota amount since the MoneyTree reporting began 15 years ago.

For 2010, TECHdotMN documents 42 unique high tech deals (IT, SaaS, web/mobile, digital media, hardware, telecom), totaling in excess of $60m invested in Minnesota-based technology companies throughout last year. Excluding Cymbet’s $31m round, 36 different ventures raised approximately $30m combined in 2010, or $857k per average round, according to the data.*

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By Arundhati Parmar, Finance and Commerce

“Call it “password fatigue.” For many of us, remembering multiple passwords is an annoying fact of 21st century life.  Now, a local company says it has the cure.

Chanhassen-based software company Indigo Identityware makes software, used in conjunction with biometric readers, that identifies people with a simple fingerprint, providing instant access to multiple applications. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Indigo Identityware raised $1.25 million earlier this year. The company is trying to raise more money now, but President and CEO Thomas Rheineck declined to say how much.”

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Indigo Identityware (Sig-Tec Corp)  has raised $1,275,000 according to a recent SEC filing.  The Chanhassen company provides a Secure Identity Management solution with an Integrated Behavioral Single Sign-on (SSO) for Hospitals, Banks, Police Stations, homes and other enterprise environments.